Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 January 26

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January 26

Google doodle for 26 Jan 2015

Hi all,
Is this - a picture of kids building sand-castles, with Australian flags (though they could be New Zealand flags. Don't. Get. Me. Started. &c) on them (flags on the sand-castles, not on the kids, that is) - coming up in other parts of the word? Just curious.
Pete AU --Shirt58 (talk) 01:56, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Eastern U.S. here. It's still the 25th here, so we won't see ours for another three hours. Right now I just got the standard Google text image. No doodle. Dismas|^(talk) 01:59, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

If you hover over the image, it will show Australia Day 2015. --  Gadget850 ^talk 02:08, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

And that would be why instead of being at work, I'm being a mamil. "Hi, I'm Peter in AU! You might remember me from such Wikipedia articles as 'Ego Leonard', 'Hevisaurus', 'Mutant Giant Spider Dog' and 'shipyourenemiesglitter.com..." --Shirt58 (talk) 02:41, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

@Gadget850: I don't know why you're replying to my comment. My normal Google text doesn't say anything when I hover over it. Dismas|^(talk) 03:09, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

For what it's worth, those are clearly Australian and not NZ flags; the NZ flag doesn't have the larger white star under the canton. --65.94.50.4 (talk) 03:00, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

And the Southern Cross on the NZ flag has only four stars, and they are red outlined with white, but both flags are otherwise identical and include the %#$&ing flag of some country on the other side of the world on the upper hoist... I'm getting the red mist...--Shirt58 (talk) 10:19, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Now, now, Peter, remember what your personal brain care specialist says to do in situations like this: think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts; though the 2015 tri-series match for today got washed out, there will be plenty more at the 2015 Cricket World Cup. --Shirt58 (talk) 10:19, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

It's the 26th in the U.S. now and we still just get the regular Google text sans doodle. Dismas|^(talk) 09:01, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Many Google Doodles are country specific. The link in question is https://www.google.com.au/ which is the Australia TLD. --  Gadget850 ^talk 09:10, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

I realize that. The way I understood the question was that the OP was asking if other parts of the world were getting a doodle related to Australia Day as well or if they were being served something else. Dismas|^(talk) 09:28, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Oh. I didn't know that the doodles are Tldn-specific. That would explain why the 26 Jan 2015 doodle for https://www.google.co.in/ is about Republic Day (India). Are there any times when they are world-wide or at least non-country specific? I know for a fact that the 24 November 2014 Toulouse-Lautrec one wasn't limited to la France.--Shirt58 (talk) 10:19, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Google Doodle#See also has links to several lists which show the countries. --  Gadget850 ^talk 10:25, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, things like Earth Day generally have the same doodle around the world. Dismas|^(talk) 17:32, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Thank you everyone who participated in this discussion. I've learned a lot. I've got multiple and complexity-explaining answers to what I mistakenly thought was a simple question. Like the citizens of "Sniddler's Gulch" in the Sesame Street animation, I'll live happy ever after, because I'm really not that smart. Pete AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 10:20, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Word Count in Powerpoint

How do I get a word count/character count for a selection of slides (e.g. 10 slides) from a Powerpoint file with many more slides (e.g. 89 slides). I would like the word count/character count for that selection only. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 13:30, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Is this a feature that used to exist? In Office 2013 the best I can recommend is change the view to "outline view" then copy past that into word. Fractal618 (talk) 15:53, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Can't sync to itunes u

Hi all, I'm using a new ipod with an old laptop, and I've downloaded an itunes u course on the Chinese language. I've only downloaded the first two lessons, but when I sync, they don't come up. I've checked, and the computer thinks the lessons really are on the ipod, but nothing actually shows up on the device (it won't even register that the itunes u course exists on my ipod). Most of the courses do show up, so itunes u is basically working on the device, up to a point, but this course (and one other) just doesn't show up. IBE (talk) 13:49, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Further .NET database question

Continuing about my work project. It turns out this syntax doesn't work with Oracle:

• INSERT INTO mytable (mycolumn) values (1), (2)

However, this does:

• INSERT INTO mytable (mycolumn) SELECT a FROM (SELECT 1 AS a FROM dual UNION ALL SELECT 2 AS a FROM dual)

Now, I have two questions:

1. One of the columns is a unique identifier number and gets its value from a sequence. For some mysterious reason, using the sequence with its nextval operator in the INSERT INTO statement causes a rollback, which then throws an InvalidOperationException if I start a transaction within the connection. If I don't use a transaction, the insert works OK. It also works OK in a transaction if I don't use a sequence, but that is not an option. What could be causing this?
2. In case the estimation fails (for example, the estimated time doesn't fit into a DateTime object) I return null from the estimation. But I can't store this null value among the other date values in the table with UNION ALL. I get a database error: ORA-01790: expression must have same datatype as corresponding expression. Apparently Oracle thinks null values aren't compatible with date values. Is there any way to solve this, or will I have to resort to using DateTime.MinValue or DateTime.MaxValue instead?

JIP | Talk 19:58, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

You are correct in that Oracle does not allow you to separate multiple rows with a comma. You can run a series of insert into commands or you can insert into with a bunch of unioned select from dual queries. Both problems you have should be solved by using a series of insert into...values...; commands. You will use the nextval only once per insert. Further, you won't be trying to get a distinct set of values with nulls (in case you don't know, union implies distinct). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.149.113.24 (talk) 17:40, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Does union imply distinct across all columns, or for each one separately? If I were to do this:

• INSERT INTO mytable (mycolumna, mycolumnb) SELECT a, b FROM (SELECT 1 AS a, NULL AS b FROM dual UNION ALL SELECT 2 AS a, NULL AS b FROM dual)

would it insert one or two rows? JIP | Talk 18:01, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

A union spits out distinct rows. So, your select would produce {1,null},{2,null}. 209.149.113.24 (talk) 19:06, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Fedora 20 Cinnamon GUI hangs with every file operation

I'm using Fedora 20 Linux with Cinnamon. My computer has been up for three weeks already and Cinnamon is taking up 5 gigabytes of the computer's 12 gigabytes of memory. The computer and its operating system work otherwise OK, but whenever I execute any file operation whatsoever from the GUI that modifies the file system in any way, the whole GUI just hangs for about 15-20 seconds, and then resumes working as normal. I can move the mouse as normal, and its pointer responds to elements, changing shape as necessary. But I can't click on anything or type anything. Clicks and keypresses are recognised, but the system doesn't react to them until 15-20 seconds afterwards.

I actually even played Lazy Jones on VICE, and when I took a screenshot, the GUI hung for 15-20 seconds. But the game didn't hang - it kept on running, thinking I hadn't moved Jones at all. I can tell because the cleaning cart collided with Jones, killing him, and I heard the distinctive sound effect.

What could be causing this? Is it just the Cinnamon process having been running for too long and consuming too much memory? JIP | Talk 20:04, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Sounds like a classic memory leak. That's where a program allocates a chunk of memory for each operation, but never bothers to free it up again, consuming more and more memory until the computer becomes unusable. A reboot is the usual "cure", although the problem will recur and require reboots again and again. StuRat (talk) 06:00, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

If you want to diagnose this (short of calling it a "bug" and rebooting), you'll need to collect more information. What does top tell you? Can you switch to console mode on the local machine (usually Ctrl+Alt+F2, or similar)? Is the system responsive in console? Can you see anything in system log? Stack shots? Does it reproduce on other machines?

What you have right now is a symptom, but not nearly enough information for a bug report or a diagnosis. Unless this is a really common bug, it's not likely we can identify its root-cause by symptom alone. Do you need help finding a troubleshooting guide? GUI problems are probably best diagnosed following the X.org Fedora troubleshooting procedure - but from what you've told us so far, we can't yet confidently even narrow this down to an X.org issue.

Nimur (talk) 12:44, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

top reports cinnamon right at the top (pun intended), consuming only 0.7% of CPU power but 48.3% of memory. Other processes top temporarily reports at the top are firefox and top itself, but cinnamon stays there most of the time. The system is completely responsive in console mode. I can even run file operations from the command line via a terminal emulator when using the GUI, and the system remains responsive. But whenever I save a file from FireFox or GIMP, for example, the system briefly hangs, then resumes. I don't have access to any other computers running Fedora. JIP | Talk 17:59, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Sounds to me like a filesystem failure. Usually, these types of things happen with network filesystems. Look in /etc/fstab. Do you have any network systems in there? Run "mount". Does it list any network systems mounted? 209.149.113.24 (talk) 19:08, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

No, I don't think I am using any network file systems. JIP | Talk 19:15, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Yea, you seem to have some pretty good evidence that a memory leak is the problem. I suggest you try a different Desktop Environment program, which hopefully manages memory better. StuRat (talk) 21:50, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

...Wow, StuRat... do you have the ability to decipher complicated kernel and graphics-driver resource-leaks at great distance, or does your mousepad just double as your Jump-To-Conclusions mat? We do not have good evidence of anything yet, except a user-visible symptom, which is why JIP should spend a little bit more time collecting information. There is no reason to assume a memory-leak has any relation to the problem, and there is no reason to believe that a process who consumes 48.3% of memory is actively leaking, nor is there a priori any reason to believe this is an unusual or problematic amount of memory for a GUI to consume. In itself, a memory leak does not even explain a UI glitch symptom that JIP described. Recommending that JIP totally migrate to a new software platform is not a good recommendation... he's a sharp guy and already implicitly knew that "replace everything" was an option, but he came here for help with this problem, with this software setup. Nimur (talk) 16:32, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Loading a new Desktop Environment program is no big deal. He doesn't even have to uninstall Cinnamon. It's not like changing the O/S. StuRat (talk) 16:58, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

S.M.A.R.T. reports what? --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 22:13, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

How do I use S.M.A.R.T.? JIP | Talk 13:32, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

If this were Debian, you'd either use GNOME Disks or Smartmontools; I imagine these are available for Fedora too. -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 16:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Under Fedora, you can check the S.M.A.R.T. report with the "smartctl" tool, installed with "yum install smartmontools". [1][2][3][4].

I think what Haase is implying is that if you are *lucky*, your hard drive gradually wears out with occasional read errors, and the hard drive goes back and retries the read over and over and (after what seems like a long time) the hard drive eventually gets enough data and correction code bits that it successfully recovers the data. If that's what causing your temporary hangs, it should be obvious from the S.M.A.R.T. "Reallocated Sectors Count", "Current Pending Sector Count", etc. values. --DavidCary (talk) 16:50, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Trying to replicate this problem with Cinnamon on Fedora 20... I can get a very noticeable delay if I open the file browser pointed to a folder with hundreds of files (e.g. /usr/bin). My /usr/bin has 2513 files in it. If I ls it, I get a response very quickly. If I ls is piped to wc -l, I see the file count almost instantly. If I ls and sort, I almost an instant response. When I open the folder in Cinnamon's file browser, it takes 30-60 seconds to show anything. It is as though it is bubble-sorting the list of files (I know it isn't, but that is what it is like). So... is this something that happens all the time or when you open a folder with a lot of files? 209.149.113.24 (talk) 17:19, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't even have to open a folder. If I right-click on a picture on FireFox and select "Save image as..." and then save it to disk, FireFox dutifully saves the file, and the whole operating system UI hangs for about 15-20 seconds. Any mouse click I do during that time is recognised, but only acted upon once the UI resumes working. The same happens if I save an image I've been editing in GIMP. I installed Midori from the "Software" administration application, and once I clicked "Install", the whole UI hung for ten minutes (I could tell by looking at the taskbar clock, which had frozen in place while the UI was hung), and then it resumed. However, I can do any file operations I please from the command line (either running in console mode or from the GUI via a terminal emulator) lightning fast as normal. And yes, this has been happening every time for several days now. JIP | Talk 17:38, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Try to grab a stack dump of Cinnamon while the problem is reproducing. You might need to remotely log in to the machine (e.g. using ssh or serial console) in order to diagnose this type of bug - because, of course, it occurs when the UI is hung. For example:

1. On the problem-machine, enable ssh logins
2. On a remote machine, ssh to the problematic unit. Check the Cinnamon pid using pgrep or top.
3. Reproduce the problem in the GUI.
4. In your remote ssh session, trigger a stackshot: pstack `pgrep cinnamon` (or similar - I don't know if your distribution has pstack and pgrep - but you can get them).
5. Save the stackshot to a logfile and submit it as part of your bug report to the cinnamon developers.

One of the amazing things about free software is that you have the source code. You can fix the bug yourself, if you have the time and expertise. One of the terrible things about it is that the developers have very little incentive to track down your problem. (They aren't paid by you to fix your bug). So the more work you do to find out where the problem is, the better chance that this bug can actually be fixed - by you or by the developers.

Nimur (talk) 20:30, 29 January 2015 (UTC)